Meat case study

Ungutted Hanging

Premise

Marta Wajngarten Was talking with my dad about processing rabbits and he said that back in his day when he hunted rabbits as a kid (East block Europe, hunting using stones, so nothing got pierced) they would ALWAYS hang the rabbits whole for a week or two outside to age before doing any processing. He insists, not gutting prior to hanging. Our temps are low enough I'm willing to try it as an experiment. Has anyone tried doing that vs the typical dry aging in a fridge after processing? Google has an image for everything!

C.j. 'Hawke' DeCamp I would gut first. Just because it's how they used to do it doesn't make it safe now that we know more about germs and such. --Marta Wajngarten C.j. 'Hawke' DeCamp oh I asked like 10x are you suuuure you didn't gut first, though I know some people still cure water fowl like that. Kill and hang until the head falls off, then clean.

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Update on the hanging experiment.

Marta Wajngarten : 10wk old male, hung ungutted head up outside for 3 days after dispatch (CD). Temps were hovering just above freezing. Hung it it in a spare cage to protect from predators. I hung it head up for processing not to flip what ever might be happening inside. There was minor discoloration visible through the skin on the abdomen, no obvious smell. It skinned like a 4wk old. The connective tissue all softened up and let go as if it wasn't there. Only once the skin came off there was a mild smell coming from the guts and it was just the smell of the gut contents, same as you would experience if you accidentally ruptured them on a fresh kill. Unfortunately the belly flap was trash plus a portion of the underside of the lower loin. Some blood pooling in the legs but they were otherwise fine. All of the meat was ridiculously soft and tender. The mild stream of water from the tap as I was rinsing shredded up the meat. I was able to divide the entire carcass with bare hands, no knife needed, it was kind of surreal, like I had hulk powers. It was late at night so I didn't cook it up (dogs got it it all) but every thing less the obviously discoloured parts looked edible. Definitely will be trying this again, but yeah, as I suspected it needs to be degutted otherwise there's too much waste imo. Belly flaps are so good, I'm not willing to sacrifice them!

___________________ comments

Stephanie Hughes What occurred here is decomp. Post mortem the mechanisms that keep the bacteria in a body in check, no longer function... so the bacteria begin to break down ALL body tissues, including muscle and connective tissue. Day 3 in relatively cold weather, is the day an animal usually begins the putrescence stage along with bloating. The degree of muscle breakdown you describe suggests E. Coli, a typical decomposition finding. Medieval and Tudor England texts describe hanging rabbits, hares, and pheasants until the heads/bodies separated naturally from "corruption " ie *decomposition* ... but even those were gutted, skinned, and hung by the neck in cold cellars with smoke at the door to shoo flies away.

Caitlin Avery It’s “tender” because bacteria and enzymes that are naturally present on and in the body are allowed to grow unchecked. It’s decomposition. When you put that excess bacteria into your body, it risks infection if your body can’t fight it off. salmonella, e.coli, produce “food poisoning”

Julie Moore replying to Caitlin Avery the tenderness comes from. The connective tissues breaking down first due to lack of bloodflow, not because of bacteria. The guts and smell would have been bacteria related most likely, but not the tenderness. Those food born illnesses only occur if the animal has those bacteria present already and they are allowed to grow unchecked, but salmonella and Ecoli are not common infective on a rabbit. This is more of a corporate driven fear of infection, not from a common risk or problem with rabbit meat. People have been taught to fear bacteria, but the healthy human body is made of 3x more bacteria cells than it is of human cells. We are taught to use hand sanitizers to kill 999 percent of germs when only 3 percent of them were dangerous and the rest are highly necessary for a proper immune system. Bacteria are detrimental to the health of humans but society has tried to vilify that. There is unlikely to be an Ecoli or salmonella or other food borne illness from dry aging a rabbit a few days.

Darell R Harrison When royalty were embalmed in the 1500, 1600's their entrails and other organs were removed to prevent decomposition. Accelerated decomposition starts in the abdomen due to bacteria

Jessica Rowell I mean.. cool but the reason why the meat was just falling off the bone was due to decomp. Keeping all the entrails inside causes the bacteria from the gut to decompose faster, hence why you kill something you need to gut it as soon as possible, even in cold weather. Cold weather doesn't stop decomp, only slows it down. Great experiment though! But please don't eat meat like this. You can certainly dry age meat but not with the entrails inside.